On My Block

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This is the illustration I contributed on page 14 along with the story “Norio Company.” The “place” that I chose to depict was the miso business my father, Ed Arikawa’s family ran in the basement of their San Francisco Japantown home from the time they were released from Poston Arizona Internment Camp in 1945 to the time they were forced to move during 1970’s Japantown redevelopment.

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This is the spot illustration that accompanied the main illustration. In addition to miso Norio Company also made tofu. “Hiyayakko,” chilled tofu topped with shoga (ginger), katsuobushi (bonito flake) and drizzled with oshoyu (soy sauce), is my father’s favorite way to eat tofu.